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Martin has always been against fan-fiction, which must be a little sad for the fan-fiction writers out there, seeing as how very many delicious characters he has created. He writes, “Every writer needs to learn to create his own characters, worlds, and settings. Using someone else’s world is the lazy way out.” But more importantly, in a very articulate and informative explanation on the legal and monetary problems with fan fiction, he explains, “My characters are my children … I don’t want people making off with them, thank you. Even people who say they love my children. I’m sure that’s true, I don’t doubt the sincerity of the affection, but still… No one gets to abuse the people of Westeros but me.” (LOL)

J.K. RowlingThe author of the beloved Harry Potter series takes a more amenable view to fan-fiction, and though she has the same commercial issues as other authors, she’s basically given it her blessing. Unlike Martin (who, let’s face it, wouldn’t have a leg to stand on with this argument), she seems to be most concerned that any Potter fan-fiction remain PG-rated. According to an official statement from her agent, “she is very flattered by the fact there is such great interest in her Harry Potter series and that people take the time to write their own stories. Her concern would be to make sure that it remains a non-commercial activity to ensure fans are not exploited and it is not being published in the strict sense of traditional print publishing… The books may be getting older, but they are still aimed at young children. If young children were to stumble on Harry Potter in a an X-rated story, that would be a problem.”

Anne Rice

The wildly popular Anne Rice, author of Interview with the Vampire is one of those authors who is famously and unapologetically against — even offended by — the idea of fan-fiction. On her website, she writes, “I do not allow fan-fiction. The characters are copyrighted. It upsets me terribly to even think about fan-fiction with my characters. I advise my readers to write your own original stories with your own characters. It is absolutely essential that you respect my wishes.”

Stephenie Meyer

Like Rowling, Meyer doesn’t take a strong stance against fan-fiction about her books, though she seems to think that the form is a waste of time. In an interview, Meyer explained, “Fan-fiction has become kind of a mixed thing for me. like in the beginning I hadn’t heard of it and there were some that were…I couldn’t read the ones that had the characters IN character. It freaked me out… but there was one about Harry Potter and Twilight that was hilarious. And then there was one that was about a girl who was starring as Bella in the movie and that was funny. And uh, I hear so many people arguing about fan-fiction. This one and that one. It seems like they are not as much fun anymore. I don’t know…. People pour out so much energy and talent into them… It makes me frustrated. I’m like, go write your own story. Put them out there and get them published. That’s what you should be doing. You should be working on your own book right now.”

Ursula K. LeGuin

On her website, the legendary LeGuin writes, “As for anybody publishing any story ‘derived from’ my stuff, I am absolutely opposed to it & have never given anyone permission to do so. It is lovely to ‘share worlds’ if your imagination works that way, but mine doesn’t; to me, it’s not sharing but an invasion, literally — strangers coming in and taking over the country I live in, my heartland. This applies, of course, to fiction only. I have given permission to all sorts of script writers, playwrights, musicians, dancers, etc. to use my stuff for performance pieces, and collaborated happily with many of them. That’s different. That’s a gas! Collaboration is one thing, co-optation is another.”

Orson Scott Card

For Orson Scott Card, author of Ender’s Game and the ensuing books, it’s all about the money. “I will sue,” he writes, “because if I do NOT act vigorously to protect my copyright, I will lose that copyright … So fan-fiction, while flattering, is also an attack on my means of livelihood.” We’ll see how he feels after the film rights come rolling in.

Diana GabaldonGabaldon, author of the Outlander series, caused a small internet furor a couple years ago when she posted an entry on her blog that began “OK, my position on fan-fic is pretty clear: I think it’s immoral, I know it’s illegal, and it makes me want to barf whenever I’ve inadvertently encountered some of it involving my characters.” Since then, she has deleted all the nasty comments that ensued, and on her new website, she has written, “You know, I’m very flattered that some of you enjoy the books so much that you feel inspired to engage with the writing in a more personal way than most readers do. Both for legal and personal reasons, though, I’m not comfortable with fan-fiction based on any of my work, and request that you do not write it, do not send it to me, and do not publish it, whether in print or on the web. Thank you very much for your consideration.”

J.D. SalingerWe’re not sure if the proposed Catcher in the Rye sequel quite counts as fan-fiction in the same way that the aforementioned fantasy authors experience it, but we think Salinger’s response would be the same: “The sequel is not a parody and it does not comment upon or criticize the original. It is a rip-off pure and simple.” Prepare to be sued.

Charlie StrossThough Stross, author of many science fiction novels and short stories, doesn’t care if anyone writes about his characters, he does care if that practice impinges on his own ability to make a living. He explains, rather eloquently we think, “I am not a precious sparkly unicorn who is obsessed with the purity of his characters — rather, I am a glittery and avaricious dragon who is jealous of his steaming pile of gold. If you do not steal the dragon’s gold, the dragon will leave you alone. Offer to bring the dragon more gold and the dragon will be your friend.”

EXACTLY. Do you know how boring cultural myths would be if they hadn't shifted and changed over the course of time and through interpretation? Storytelling has been around forever. Publishing and copyright laws? Let's see which sticks around longer.

agree with all of this. as a writer, I would honestly be amused and flattered by people wanting to spend more time in the world I created and wanting to manipulate it in other ways. anything else is just selfish and weirdly controlling imo!

I feel like a lot of them don't truly get the internet or fanfiction, or the modern fandom in general. But if an author is going to go out of his/her way to stop/scare/shame fans, then that's how they permanently make their way to the library-borrowing list.

OMG I'm so glad this post came up b/c a few weeks ago I found out that S.E. Hinton is an obsessed Supernatural fan and writes fan fiction. THE AUTHOR OF THE OUTSIDERS WRITES FAN FICTION. About Sam and Dean. I can't.

I get the sentiment of writers who say this, but it's sort of like they've allowed us into their world. Given their characters to us to embrace. Some of us choose to do it (respectfully, for the most part) in fanfiction.

I know I'm late as hell to this post but THANK YOU FOR SAYING THIS BECAUSE IT ANNOYS THE FUCK OUT OF ME.

Once you shame fic writers for writing fic of your stories and then you go around shaming original writers for daring to use vampires (which, okay, a lot of people don't like Stephanie Meyer, myself included, but publishing her thoughts about them are really kind of unnecessary), and you're writing Bible fanfic all this time? Sit down.

Honestly she's the one person whose negative stance doesn't even make me mad, just because iirc she basically used the first book as a way to come to terms with her daughter's death, and then over the years Lestat started to stand for her husband who's also since died, and I mean when your books are that personal to you and you're as unsteady as, well, Anne Rice, then raging is understandable. I don't really think that should stop people from writing Vampire Chronicles fanfiction, but I don't blame her for losing her shit over it.

"People pour out so much energy and talent into them… It makes me frustrated. I’m like, go write your own story. Put them out there and get them published. That’s what you should be doing. You should be working on your own book right now.”

basically "omg why are you enjoying something when you could be making money!!??!?"

Wasn't Midnight Sun, the Twilight from Edward's POV book she never finished, basically her writing a fanfic of her own book? I thought I read that she got the idea because of stories people were posting online with the same idea.

idk I don't think she's being so unreasonable. I think it's less about money and more like, if people are putting that much time and effort into writing and have a ton of potential as writers, it's a shame a lot of them don't live up to that potential by moving beyond fanfic.

While it would be glorious to see that bitch sued, it'd be almost like trying to decide whether you want to have a month-long bout of projectile vomiting or diarrhea in regards to which one to support. Both are SMeyer and James are equally vile.

Even if it started as a Twilight fanfic, it was basically an AU with the character names tacked on, so I don't think Meyer would have any grounds. Having suffered through the first 20 something pages of Fifty Shades, I kept reading trying to figure out who was who, lol. It was pretty obvious because I knew it was supposed to be a Twilight fanfic, but aside from the main girl being clumsy and a boring brunette, I don't think Meyer's characters are original enough that you could argue they were ripped off through their personalities in the book.

TL;DR - won't happen, but man I would love to see that basic bitch throw down.